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Thorne Announces Clinical Study to Assess Nicotinamide Riboside

Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota and ChromaDex to Collaborate on Study

NEW YORK, April 13, 2016 – Thorne and ChromaDex Corp. (OTCQX: CDXC) announced today a research endeavor with Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota Clinical and Translational Science Institute, regarding a planned clinical study to assess the effect of Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) on brain NAD+ in college football players.

The randomized, placebo controlled, double-blind study will enroll healthy male collegiate football linemen, not having a history of more than 3 concussions. Participants will take either 750 mg per day of Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) or placebo for 84 days.

Pre- and post-intervention evaluations include physical assessment, blood tests for safety and toxicity monitoring, blood tests for biomarkers, neurologic testing, quality of life questionnaires, and real time measurement of brain NAD, using 31P MRS.

The primary outcome of the study is to measure the change in brain NAD+ levels over 3 months. The study is expected to begin in May 2016 with final data collected by March 2017.

The principal investigators of the study are Dr. Zhu and Brent A Bauer, MD, Director of the Well Living Lab and Director of the Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

Paul Jacobson, CEO of Thorne, stated, “We now have data showing that nicotinamide riboside raises NAD+ in the blood and in the brains of animals. We have further evidence that NR raises NAD+ in white blood cells and in plasma in humans.

This will be the first trial to examine whether NR raises NAD+ in the brains of humans.

Since concussion activates the DNA repair enzyme PARP-1 (which consumes and lowers NAD+ in the brain), the possibility that NR might raise brain NAD+ levels opens an exciting new frontier in how we might be able to manage football-related concussion and other forms of traumatic brain injury in the near future.”

Frank Jaksch Jr., founder and CEO of ChromaDex, commented “We are honored to collaborate with Dr. Zhu and Dr. Bauer and their respective research teams, as well as Thorne Research on this clinical trial. The human study is designed to provide a better understanding on how NR may affect brain NAD+ levels in athletes who participate in football and other contact sports.”

Thorne introduced NiaCel® in 2014, which features ChromaDex’s patented ingredient NIAGEN®, the first and only commercially available form of nicotinamide riboside (NR), a naturally occurring vitamin B3 metabolite found in milk.

ChromaDex, through more than 50 collaborations with researchers around the world, is in the forefront of research showing that the use of NR helps preserve or restore mitochondrial function and may be beneficial in treating and/or preventing disease.

ABOUT NICOTINAMIDE RIBOSIDE (NR)Published research has shown that NR is perhaps the most effective precursor to boost the co-enzyme NAD+ in the cell. NAD+ is arguably the most important cellular co-factor for improvement of mitochondrial performance and energy.

In recent years, NAD+ has been shown to be essential in supporting healthy cellular metabolism, including the efficient conversion of blood glucose into energy.

As organisms age, NAD+ levels drop, which leads to a decrease in mitochondrial health; this in turn leads to age-related health issues.

Low NAD+ levels limit activity of a group of enzymes called sirtuins, which are believed to play a key role in longevity. NAD+ levels can be depleted by lifestyle choices such as overeating and lack of exercise.

By boosting NAD+, NR can increase mitochondrial health and induce creation of new mitochondria.

Alan Miller, ND, a graduate of Bastyr University, in Seattle, Washington, has been involved in clinical practice, clinical research, business development, nutritional supplement product formulation, and patient and doctor education over his 30-year professional career. Dr. Miller, an accomplished lecturer who has also published more than 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals, is currently Thorne Research's Executive Director, Medical Education.